Keishawn’s day

Screams and tears of joy rang through the courtyard of the St Mary’s Primary school when 11-year-old Keishawn Thomas learned he passed for The Ellerslie School.

An elated Keishawn who had once hoped to pass for the St Leonard’s Boys school could not contain his excitement after learning his result in the Barbados Secondary School Entrance Examination on Tuesday afternoon.

Keishawn was the subject of cyberbullying after an edited video of an interview with Barbados TODAY which sought to mock him for correcting a grammatical blunder went viral on social media. Since then, the young man was shown a huge outpouring of support from members of the public and corporate Barbados, including Auntie Mia – the Prime Minister.

Moments after learning his result he told Barbados TODAY he felt “very good” about his performance.

“I would like to say thank you to everybody who was supporting me and from every bad comes a good and as Auntie Mia said it doesn’t matter how they treat you; it is about how you get up,” Thomas said.

When Barbados TODAY asked his mother Keisha Thomas if she will be seeking a transfer for Keishawn to St Leonards, she confidently said she would let him make that decision. She then asked her son who said he was happy to head to Ellerslie.

The proud mom also could not contain her excitement as she embraced Keishawn and broke the news to him on Tuesday afternoon.

“I feel so excited and so proud of my son, she told Barbados TODAY. “It was a bit rough but now I feel a lot [more] relieved and better, he is very excited about the school so I good.”

When asked about how Keishawn has been coping since the pain of the cyberbullying incident, she reported that he has been coping a lot better.

“I want to say thank you to Stephanie Chase, the Prime Minister and everybody that reached out to him,” Thomas said. (KB)